Author: CensorBiz

Nigeria has seen only three confirmed coronavirus cases so far, but people are already being told to adjust their behavior to keep the virus from spreading. Churches, banks and other institutions are in the forefront of making changes, as Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja.  
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Coronavirus has become a “get out of jail” card for hundreds of low-level inmates across the country, and even hard-timers are seeking their freedom with the argument that it’s not a matter of if but when the deadly illness sweeps through tightly packed populations behind bars.  Among those pleading for compassionate release or home detention are the former head of the Cali drug cartel, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen, Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff and dozens of inmates at New York City’s Rikers Island, part of a jail system that lost an employee to the virus this week. “He is in poor health. He is 81 years old,” David Oscar Markus, the attorney for cocaine kingpin Gilberto Rodriguez-Orejuela, wrote in emergency court papers this week seeking his release after serving about half of a 30-year drug-trafficking sentence. “When (not if) COVID-19 hits his prison, he will not have much of a chance.”  While widespread outbreaks of coronavirus behind bars have yet to happen, the frenzy of legal activity underscores a crude reality that’s only beginning to sink in: America’s nearly 7,000 jails, prisons and correction facilities are an ideal breeding ground for the virus, as dangerous as nursing homes and cruise ships but far less sanitary.  Stepped-up cleanings and a temporary halt to visitations at many lockups across the country in the midst of the crisis can’t make up for the fact that ventilation behind bars is often poor, inmates sleep in close quarters and share a small number of bathrooms.  “Simply put, it’s impossible to do social distancing,” said David S. Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Miami. Prison staffers test positiveThe 81-year-old Madoff, who is serving a 150-year sentence for bilking thousands of investors in a $17.5 billion Ponzi scheme, had just asked last month to be released early in light of his terminal kidney disease. Now his attorney is calling on all at-risk federal prisoners to be released for their own safety because of the coronavirus. “The federal prison system has consistently shown an inability to respond to major crises,” Madoff attorney Brandon Sample told The Associated Press. “My concerns are even more amplified for prisoners at federal medical centers and those who are aged.” As of Wednesday, two federal Bureau of Prisons staff members have tested positive for coronavirus, a person familiar with the matter told the AP. One of the staffers works in a correctional facility and the other works in an office, but there were still no confirmed cases among any of the 175,000 inmates in the BOP system, the person said. The person wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.  It’s not just attorneys for the wealthy and powerful seeking release.  In New York, public defenders asked judges to release older and at-risk inmates from the city’s beleaguered federal jails, saying pretrial confinement “creates the ideal environment for the transmission of contagious disease.” The motions cite a provision of the Bail Reform Act allowing for the temporary release of pretrial inmates under “compelling” circumstances.  ‘Ticking time bombs'”I truly believe the jails are ticking time bombs,” said David Patton, executive director of the Federal Defenders of New York. “They’re overcrowded and unsanitary in the best of times. They don’t provide appropriate medical care in the best of times, and these certainly are not the best of times.”  Some authorities around the nation appear to agree. Police departments are incarcerating fewer people, prosecutors are letting non-violent offenders out early and judges are postponing or finding alternatives to jail sentences.  In Los Angeles, the nation’s largest jail system has trimmed its population by more than 600 since Feb. 28, allowing many inmates with fewer than 30 days left on their sentences to be released early. In Cleveland, judges held a special session over the weekend to settle cases with guilty pleas and release more than 200 low-level, non-violent inmates. And in Miami, the top state attorney has urged the release of all non-violent felons and those being held on misdemeanors. “No judge wants to have a dead prisoner on his conscience,” said Bill Barzee, a Miami defense attorney. New York City’s Board of Correction this week called for the immediate release of all high-risk inmates after an an investigator assigned to the jail system died over the weekend of the coronavirus. The 56-year-old man was said to have a pre-existing health condition and only limited contact with inmates. The city’s jail system has about 8,000 inmates, most at notorious Rikers Island. However, accommodating the surge of requests poses its own challenge. Courts around the country are shutting down, with only a skeletal staff working. The chief federal judge in Brooklyn on Monday postponed indefinitely all criminal and civil jury trials, encouraging judges to conduct court business via telephone or video conferencing when possible, and to delay in-person proceedings.  Visitations for federal inmates suspendedProsecutors said in court filings that the Federal Bureau of Prisons has been planning for the outbreak since January, including by establishing a task force with experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The BOP last week suspended visitation for all federal inmates, facility transfers, staff travel and training for 30 days. Newly arriving inmates are being screened for COVID-19, and even asymptomatic inmates deemed to be at risk are being quarantined. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that they would take similar steps.  Public health officials stress that older people and those with existing health problems are most at risk from coronavirus but that the vast majority of people will only suffer mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, with recovery in a matter of weeks. But such assurances are small solace for inmates.  Some turn to TwitterThe Twitter account of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney who is serving a three-year sentence for crimes including tax evasion and campaign finance violations, shared over the weekend an online petition seeking the transfer of non-violent federal prisoners to home confinement. Addressed specifically to Trump, it argues the move would “give the prison facilities additional (and much needed) medical triage and logistic space for those who will become infected.” “Without your intervention, scores of non-violent offenders are at risk of death,” it reads, “and these people were not given a death sentence.”   
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Managing dual health and economic crises, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will invoke a federal provision that allows the government to marshal the private sector in response to the coronavirus pandemic.Trump, appearing in the White House briefing room for the third day in a row, said he would sign the Defense Production Act “in case we need it” as the government bolsters resources for an expected surge in cases of the virus.Trump also said he will expand the nation’s testing capacity and deploy a Navy hospital ship to New York City, which is rapidly becoming the epicenter of a pandemic that has rattled the U.S. economy and rewritten the rules of American society. A second ship will be deployed to the West Coast.The president also said the Housing and Urban Development Department will suspend foreclosures and evictions through April as a growing number of Americans face losing jobs and missing rent and mortgage payments.The steps came on a fast-moving day of developments. Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau jointly announced that the U.S.-Canada border would be closed, except for essential personnel and for trade, as the nations try to reduce the spread of a virus afflicting people in both countries.The administration has told Americans to avoid groups of more than 10 and the elderly to stay home while a pointed reminder was given to millennials to follow the guidelines and avoid social gatherings. Trump likened the effort to the measures taken during World War II and said it would require national “sacrifice.”THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.  President Donald Trump used Twitter to air his grievances and boasts Wednesday even as he announced new steps to slow the spread of the coronavirus.  Moments before telling the country that the U.S. and Canada had decided to temporarily close the world’s longest border to non-essential traffic, Trump was tweeting about his approval rating and bashing the news media that his administration is relying on to share its warnings about the virus.”I always treated the Chinese Virus very seriously, and have done a very good job from the beginning,” Trump tweeted, despite his record of playing down the threat for weeks. “The Fake News new narrative is disgraceful & false!”It was a jarring contrast even for a president well-practiced in preaching unity in one breath and pummeling his political rivals in another.As he needled Democrats, Trump tried to assure those who are now out of work as hotels, bars, restaurants and other gathering spots close that, “money will soon be coming to you. The onslaught of the Chinese Virus is not your fault! Will be stronger than ever!”Asked Tuesday whether he would consider laying off the insults during a national emergency, Trump said that he would continue to respond “if they’re not going to play fair. “”I want it to be bipartisan and nobody’s going to be better than me.,” he added. “But when they attack me or the people — these incredible people behind me — I’m not going to let them get away with that. I can’t do that.”Since the virus has spread, Trump and his top aides have stepped up their criticism of China, noting consistently that the outbreak was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. They have referred to the virus as the “Wuhan virus” or the “Chinese virus” on multiple occasions, disregarding World Health Organization terminology that avoids identifying it by geography.For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, like pneumonia.The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.___The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.___Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak 
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Myanmar’s army said on Wednesday it had withdrawn a criminal complaint it filed against Reuters news agency after being requested to do so by the Myanmar Press Council and in the interest of good relations with the media. Police said last week the military had filed a lawsuit against Reuters and a local lawmaker for criminal defamation weeks after objecting to a news story about two Rohingya Muslim women, who died as a result of shelling in Rakhine state. “We have withdrawn the case because of the mediation and request of the Myanmar Press Council,” military spokesman Zaw Min Tun said by phone. “We acknowledge and value the role of the media in the multi-party democracy system.” Police in Rakhine state, where the case was filed, were not available to confirm the case had been withdrawn. The press council, which adjudicates disputes between authorities and news media, said the army had withdrawn the case against Reuters and a lawsuit filed last year against an editor for local news website The Irrawaddy. “In the future, if there is something unsatisfactory… we request organizations to send a complaint to the press council first instead of opening a case or suing,” it said in a statement that welcomed the army’s decision. A Reuters spokesman said: “We welcome the resolution of this matter via the Press Council. Reuters will continue to report on Myanmar in a fair, independent and responsible way, as we do all around the world.” Both Reuters and The Irrawaddy had been facing lawsuits filed under section 66D of the Telecommunications Act, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison and has been used to jail government critics. The case against Reuters followed an army complaint about a story published on Jan. 25 in which the lawmaker was quoted as saying that the military’s artillery fire had caused the deaths of the two Rohingya women. After publication, the army said its artillery fire had not killed the women or caused other civilian injuries and blamed insurgents of the Arakan Army (AA), who are fighting for greater autonomy in Rakhine state. The AA blamed the army. The army held a news conference on Feb. 4 to complain about the story, after which Reuters updated the story to reflect the army’s position. The army subsequently filed a complaint to the press council objecting to the article. It later brought the criminal defamation case against Reuters and the lawmaker, Maung Kyaw Zan. The army did not comment on whether the case against him had also been withdrawn. Maung Kyaw Zan told Reuters he had heard nothing about his case so far. The army filed a complaint against Ye Ni, an editor for The Irrawaddy, in April 2019 also over coverage of conflict in Rakhine state. Ye Ni said he was “very pleased” with the withdrawal of the lawsuit and the reasons given by the military. Rakhine is the western region from which more than 750,000 Rohingya Muslims fled in 2017 following a military crackdown. More recently, it has been engulfed by a new conflict between government troops and the insurgent Arakan Army, which recruits from the mostly Buddhist Rakhine majority population, and is fighting for greater autonomy. Myanmar is facing charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice in the Hague over the crackdown against the Rohingya. The army denies genocide, saying it was fighting a legitimate battle against Rohingya militants who attacked first. Two Reuters reporters were released from a Myanmar jail last May after spending more than 18 months behind bars, accused of breaking the official secrets act in a case that sparked an outcry from diplomats and human rights advocates. Before their arrest in December 2017, they had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys by security forces and Buddhist civilians in Rakhine state.   
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The main Serbian hospital treating patients infected with coronavirus looks like an abandoned building, but it isn’t.
With its rundown facade, peeling walls and rooms crammed with metal beds, the downtown Belgrade clinic for infectious diseases has for decades been a symbol of Serbia’s depleted health system that now has to cope with a major virus outbreak.
“If coronavirus doesn’t kill you, that hospital surely will,” said Bane Spasic, a middle-aged man who recently visited the place for a minor infection.  
Although the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t hit Eastern and Central Europe with such a force compared to Italy, Spain and France, health officials throughout the region are sounding the alarm about the lack of medical staff, facilities, equipment and enough hospital beds to handle several virus outbreaks simultaneously.
The COVID-19 illness causes mild or moderate symptoms in most of those infected, but severe symptoms are more likely in the elderly or people with existing health problems. The vast majority of those infected recover
The countries in the region have taken a range of restrictive steps, from cutting off travel links to closing down schools and universities. But there are fears that the relatively low number of tests being carried out doesn’t reflect the true scale of the outbreak.
The massive exodus of doctors and nurses to the West, mainly Germany, appears to be a major hurdle in the fight against the outbreak. Now, the medical staff are being called to come out of retirement, graduate medical students are asked to volunteer and officials are promising special bonuses to the overloaded staff.
The government in Slovenia has suspended specialist studies for new doctors and interns so they can join the effort to combat the epidemics. Graduated doctors who still don’t have their licenses will be appointed wherever their help may be needed.
The small country of Slovenia was hit hard by the spreading of the virus from neighboring Italy with 273 confirmed cases and one death, according to the latest figures from Tuesday.
The medical systems in Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia, Northern Macedonia and Romania have all been hit hard by the massive exodus of doctors and nurses over the past several years. The medics have moved to richer countries for better pay, but they are also driven away by the ailing health systems which offer them hours of overwork, modest salaries and chronic shortages of basic medical supplies to treat people.
In Bulgaria, the government has announced financial support for all medics involved in the treatment of coronavirus patients. An additional 500 euros will be paid to every medical worker with their monthly salaries. In Albania, Prime Minister Edi Rama said that starting from March all medical staff will be paid 1,000 euros more a month. Albania’s average monthly salary is 450 euros.
Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, announced last week that all medical workers were getting a 10% increase in salaries as they face a looming struggle against the coronavirus.  
Faced with low wages and tough working conditions, about 6,000 Serbian doctors and nurses are believed to have left the country in recent years. This has prompted the government to cancel an agreement with Germany on the hiring of nurses from Serbia.
A state of emergency was declared throughout Serbia, including a nationwide dusk to dawn curfew for all citizens and a ban for all those older than 65 from leaving their households.  
Epidemiologist Predrag Kon, who is part of Serbia’s anti-virus team, has explained that the idea of the imposed state of emergency has been to stretch the epidemic as long as possible to avoid choking the clinics and putting too much burden on the health system at once.  
Zlatko Kravic, the head of the general hospital in Sarajevo, said he was concerned about Bosnia’s ability to respond to the major crisis because of the shortage of medical staff.  
“We will need more doctors, our current staffing levels will need to increase by at least a third,” he said, calling on doctors to come out of retirement and “contribute to our fight against this 21st-century menace.”
In Croatia, which also faces a major shortage of medical workers, the struggle against the epidemics is compared to the country’s war for independence from Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
“I believe we are used to all kinds of situations,” said Alemka Markotic, the head of Zagreb’s hospital for infectious diseases.
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Former U.S. vice president Joe Biden scored decisive wins Tuesday in Democratic presidential primaries in the states of Florida, Illinois and Arizona.  Mike O’Sullivan reports, Ohio postponed its vote because of coronavirus worries.
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The U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday that an Iranian man will face federal charges in connection with an alleged scheme to obtain military parts that could be used in nuclear and other weapons systems. The law enforcement agency said Merdad Ansari was extradited from the U.S. state of Georgia to San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas to face the charges.  “As alleged, the defendant helped Iran to develop its weapons programs by obtaining military parts in violation of the Iranian trade embargo,” said John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security. A federal grand jury indicted the 38-year-old Ansari in 2012 with conspiracy to launder money and commit wire fraud. A co-defendant was sentenced to two years in federal prison on charges of conspiring to purchase parts in the U.S. and have them shipped to Iran. Between 2007 and 2011, the Justice Department said Ansari and co-defendants acquired or tried to get parts from 63 different U.S. companies without the companies’ knowledge they were being sent to Iran. Ansari faces up to 25 years in federal prison if convicted. 
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One of the supposedly most valuable exhibits at the Museum of the Bible in Washington has turned out to be fake. Experts have determined that 16 waxy yellow fragments said to be remnants of the Dead Sea Scrolls are not part of an ancient Hebrew Bible, but rather forgeries. The real ancient scrolls were first found in 1947 in Qumran caves near the Dead Sea shore. They are considered to be one of the most significant historic discoveries of all time and are kept in Israel. American billionaire Steve Green acquired the fakes about 10 years ago from private collectors to be one of the central exhibits in his Bible museum, which opened in 2017. Scholars were immediately suspicious of the authenticity of the scrolls, compelling the museum to submit the items for analysis by more than one appraiser. Evidence that the scrolls were not authentic led the museum to hire Art Fraud Insights for expert analysis that took six months and resulted in a 200-page report. “After an exhaustive review of all the imaging and scientific analysis results, it is evident that none of the textual fragments in Museum of the Bible’s Dead Sea Scroll collection are authentic,” said the head of the investigation, Colette Loll of Art Fraud Insights.     Scientists have found that the collection of fragments was a set of deliberately made forgeries created in the 20th century with the intent to mimic the authentic Dead Sea Scroll fragments. The forgers have used mineral surface deposits consistent with Middle East archeological digs and used small scraps of ancient leather, coated with an amber material to create a surface with the appearance of ancient parchment.  Investigators have also determined that the ink used on the fragments did not match the ink on the authentic scrolls. The scientific report notes that since 2002 the antiquities market has become flooded with unknown textual fragments written in Hebrew or Aramaic, described as newly discovered biblical fragments.  The 200-page report is accessible from the museum’s web page.
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A British court has found the younger brother of Manchester bomber Salman Abedi guilty of the murders of 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in May of 2017. The brother, Hashem Abedi, was in Libya during Salman Abedi’s suicide bombing, but was involved in planning the attack and manufacturing the explosive. Hashem Abedi was convicted of 22 counts of murder, one of attempted murder and one of conspiracy to cause an explosion at the Old Bailey Court in London Tuesday. During a six-week, trial prosecutors said Hashem Abedi “encouraged and helped his brother” Salman Abedi, knowing that he “planned to commit an atrocity.” The Abedi brothers grew up in Manchester with their parents, who had fled the regime of Libya’s longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi. They had returned several years ago after Gadhafi had been killed in the Arab Spring uprising. The brothers traveled to Libya in April 2017 and Hashem Abedi stayed there. Salman Abedi returned to Britain in May and on May 22 entered the concert venue and detonated a device he had created with his brother, killing himself and 22 other people. Hundreds of concert-goers were also injured.   Hashem Abedi did not appear in court Tuesday and had declined to give evidence. Prosecutors presented evidence that Hashem Abedi obtained chemicals, metal drums and other components for home-made explosives. Witnesses gave testimony suggesting that the Abedi brothers developed an extremist mind set. 
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Azerbaijan released investigative reporter Afgan Mukhtarli early from a six-year prison sentence Tuesday, and allowed the journalist to fly to Germany to be reunited with his wife and daughter.Mukhtarli, a freelancer for Meydan TV, had been detained in Azerbaijan since May 2017. Mukhtarli’s lawyer at the time of his arrest, Elchin Sadygov, told the press freedom organization Committee to Protect Journalists that year that the journalist was abducted from Tbilisi, Georgia, where he had moved in 2014, and was forcibly taken across the border to Azerbaijan.  Azerbaijan charged Mukhtarli with illegally crossing the border and bringing in contraband. In 2018, a court sentenced him to six years in prison, the independent Azerbajani news agency Turan reported. FILE – Leyla Mustafayeva, wife of Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli, attends a rally in Tbilisi, Georgia, May 31, 2017.Mukhtarli’s wife, investigative journalist Leyla Mustafayeva, told VOA’s Azeri Service she learned of her husband’s release from his lawyer.  “(The) German Embassy in Baku contacted his lawyer, Nemat Kerimli, and they told him that Afgan has been released,” Mustafayeva said. “I haven’t talked to him yet, and I do not yet know the conditions under which he was released.” Alex Raufoglu, a Washington-based Azerbaijani journalist and Amnesty USA’s country specialist on Azerbaijan, told VOA that the reason for the early release was unclear but that the lawyer, who spoke with Turan, said authorities had suspended the remaining three years of the sentence.  Mukhtarli had reported critically on the Azerbaijani government, including allegations of corruption. Before his disappearance and arrest, he was investigating the finances of the ruling family for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, the BBC reported.   The journalist’s health deteriorated while in prison.  “Prison doctors have refused to examine him, despite calls from both international and local rights defenders,” Raufoglu said, adding that Mukhtarli has high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes, and that his health had deteriorated since his imprisonment.  The European Parliament in June 2017 adopted a resolution on Mukhtarli’s case, calling on Azerbaijan to drop the charges and for Georgia to investigate the circumstances of his disappearance.  FILE – Journalists attend a rally to support Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli, in Tbilisi, Georgia, May 31, 2017.The resolution, which cited his lawyer, said that four people wearing Georgian police uniforms forced Mukhtarli into a car, beat him and then drove him to the border.  “This case cast a dark shadow over Azerbaijan and Georgia, both of which ignored calls from governments and international organizations to investigate the circumstances of Afgan’s abduction,” Raufoglu said.Reaction to releaseGulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, said in a statement she was relieved to hear about the journalist’s release.  “Those involved in Mukhtarli’s abduction from Georgia and unlawful imprisonment in Azerbaijan should be held responsible,” she said. The Azerbaijan Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to VOA’s emailed request for comment about Mukhtarli’s imprisonment and release. The Georgian Embassy in Washington also did not immediately respond to VOA’s emailed request for comment. Harlem Desir, the OSCE representative on Freedom of the Media, welcomed the release on Twitter. Desir said that he had intervened several times on the journalist’s behalf to Azerbaijani authorities.  Mukhtarli was one of at least six journalists jailed in direct relation to their work in Azerbaijan at the time of CPJ’s annual prison census. This story originated in VOA’s Azeri Service.  
 
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The state of New York has halted collection of medical and student debt. The announcement was made Tuesday by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York Attorney General Letitia James and went into effect immediately. “Countless New Yorkers have been impacted — directly or indirectly — by the spread of COVID-19, forcing them to forgo income and business,” a statement on the governor’s website read. “In an effort to support these workers and families and ease their financial burdens, the OAG will halt the collection of medical and student debt owed to the State of New York and referred to the OAG for collection from March 16, 2020 through April 15, 2020,” it said. After the 30-day period, the statement said, the office of the attorney general will reassess the needs of its residents for a possible extension. Also, those with nonmedical and nonstudent debt may apply to have the collection of their state debt temporarily halted. “In this time of crisis, I won’t add undue stress or saddle NYers with unnecessary financial burden, this is the time to support residents,” James wrote on Twitter. Effective immediately, I’m temporarily halting the collection of state medical & student debt owed to NYS that was referred to my office.In this time of crisis, I won’t add undue stress or saddle NYers with unnecessary financial burden, this is the time to support residents.— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) March 17, 2020 
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A federal judge Tuesday sentenced former congressman Duncan Hunter to 11 months in prison after the California Republican pleaded guilty to stealing campaign funds. The judge rejected appeals from Hunter’s lawyers that the ex-Marine should be granted home confinement instead of a prison cell. They cited his service in Iraq and Afghanistan and his six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. The judge said such leniency was not an option. “Today’s sentence reinforces the notion that the truth still matters, that facts still matter,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Phil Halpern said, adding that he is happy with the sentence.  Prosecutors say Hunter spent about $250,000 in campaign funds for personal use – including throwing birthday parties, shopping sprees for his wife, vacations with a mistress, and such petty purchases as joke books and cans of chewing tobacco. Hunter resigned his congressional seat in December, days after pleading guilty, saying he wanted to avoid a trial.  
 
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President Donald Trump wants the government to send checks to Americans in the next two weeks in an effort to curb the economic cost of the coronavirus outbreak, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday.
“The president has instructed me we have to do this now,” he said at the White House briefing. He didn’t give details except to say the amount should be significant and millionaires would not get it.
The White House on Tuesday was asking Congress to approve a massive emergency rescue package to help businesses as well as taxpayers cope with the economic crisis that is paired with the pandemic.  
Mnuchin planned to outline that roughly $850 billion package to Senate Republicans at a private lunch, with officials aiming to have Congress approve it this week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, opening the Senate on Tuesday morning, promised swift action.
“The Senate will not adjourn until we have passed significant and bold new steps above and beyond what the House has passed to help our strong nation and our strong underlying economy weather this storm,” McConnell said.
Bigger than the 2008 bank bailout or the 2009 recovery act, the White House proposal aims to provide a massive tax cut for wage-earners, $50 billion for the airline industry and relief for small businesses.
Two people familiar with the request described it to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
“There’s great spirit” among lawmakers, President Donald Trump said at the White House briefing Tuesday as he outlined several elements of the rescue plan. “I can say that for Republicans and Democrats.”
But it’s an enormous political and economic undertaking as a slow-moving Congress tries to rise to the occasion of these fast times.
The debate is sure to revive the sharp divisions over the costly bank bailout and economic recovery of the Obama and Bush era. Particularly striking is McConnell’s urgency after having adjourned the Senate over the weekend while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi muscled through an aid package.  
Angry senators from both parties boarded planes returning to a changed Washington, as Trump declared a state of emergency, the virus spread and the economic free-fall worsened.  
The White House hopes the measure will pass quickly, possibly this week, an enormous political undertaking as the administration scrambled to contain the economic fallout of the severe disruptions to American life from the outbreak.  
White House officials offered senators a preliminary briefing late Monday at the Capitol, saying they want the plan approved by Congress as soon as possible, suggesting in a matter of days.
“ASAP,” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said late Monday. “There’s an urgency.”  
The rush to inject cash and resources into the economy is an effort unlike any since the 2008 economic crisis, with political and economic interventions and eye-popping sums to try to protect Americans from the health and financial fallout.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do from here,” Mnuchin told reporters late Monday.
The new proposal is beyond the House ‘s estimated $100 billion aid package of sick pay, emergency food aid and free virus testing that was approved over the weekend and is pending before the Senate.
Now Congress will be rushing to pass two — a massive, sweeping response to the virus outbreak that is rewriting America’s way of life.
Muscling the aid will test Congress and the White House at a pivotal moment in the crisis and in an election year when the two parties have vastly different outlooks on the best way to prop up the economy and help Americans.
Senate Democrats have proposed their own $750 billion package, boosting hospital capacity and unemployment checks for the suddenly jobless, with deep negotiations to come.  All sides, the House, Senate and White House, agree more federal resources are needed to handle what’s coming.  
At the start of the month, Congress approved $8.3 billion in initial aid. Trump quickly signed into law the measure, which provided federal agencies money for vaccines, tests and potential treatments, and funding to help state and local governments respond to the threat.
During the recession, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, passed in February of that year, had an initial price tag of $787 billion which was revised later to $831 billion. That was under Barack Obama.
The Tarp passed in the fall of 2008 to help troubled banks had a price tag of $700 billion. It was put together by the George W. Bush administration, and provided money for the auto bailouts for General Motors and Chrysler. All of that money for the banks and the auto companies was paid back.
Now, Republicans often reluctant to spend federal dollars did not flinch at the head-spinning number, as a roster of America’s big and small industries, airlines, hotels, retailers, lined up for aid.  Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, called for sending $1,000 to every adult American.
The president conveyed that lawmakers should “not be impeded by the price tag,” said Eric Ueland, the White House legislative director.  
Industries representing a broad swath of the economy are seeking help in withstanding the fallout as schools close and Americans are being told they should stay inside, skip nonessential travel and avoid gatherings with 10 people or more. 
That means no dining out, no boarding planes, no shopping the malls as a great national shutdown sparks business closures, layoffs and lost paychecks for rents, mortgages and everyday needs.
The nation’s largest business organization, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, asked the Trump administration and Congress on Monday to act rapidly to help companies have access to cash and avert a “potentially devastating” hit to the economy.
The request from the U.S. airlines alone could easily top $50 billion, according to Airlines for America, the trade group representing the carriers.Pulling together the new package will challenge the basic logistics of governing as Congress itself struggled to adapt to the new normal. House Democrats were told on a conference call they won’t be recalled to Washington until the next package is ready for action, according to people familiar with the call but unauthorized to discuss it and granted anonymity.
The 100-member Senate convened for an evening vote — in the new era of social distancing. While different authorities around the country have issued conflicting advice, the Trump administration said that Americans should not gather in groups of more than 10 people over the next 15 days. All older people are asked to stay at home.
The No. 2 Senate Democratic leader, Dick Durbin of Illinois, counting the number of senators on the floor, questioned what example they were setting. He urged swift passage of the House package. “What are we waiting for?” he asked.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. 
The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. 
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A British citizen appeared at a public hospital in India’s capital with a fever, difficulty breathing and a private clinic’s referral for a coronavirus test. She was turned away.Indian authorities said Tuesday that they are not expanding testing for the virus, as most affected nations are doing, amid mounting criticism from some experts that the limited tests could mask the true toll of the disease in the world’s second most populous country.The World Health Organization has urged countries to test as many people as possible to curb the pandemic, but India has taken a different approach, limiting testing to those who have traveled from affected countries or come in contact with a confirmed case and show symptoms after two weeks of quarantine.  The British patient denied a test last week fulfilled neither criteria.  The woman, who requested anonymity fearing business consequences for her employer, said she told hospital officials that she may have had contact with a coronavirus patient in her job in a hotel, but couldn’t be sure.After trying and failing to be tested a second time, she left India this week for France, where her family lives, and which President Emmanuel Macron said Monday was “at war” with the virus, announcing extreme measures to curb the disease.Indian authorities have justified their strict testing criteria as a way to keep a deluge of people from demanding tests that would cost the government money it needs to combat other diseases such as tuberculosis, malnutrition and HIV/AIDs.  As a result of the stringent criteria, sick people with potential exposure to the new virus are being sent home, and some experts fear that India’s caseload could be much higher than government statistics indicate.  Authorities have confirmed 126 cases, all of which have been “imported” — linked to foreign travel or direct contact with someone who caught the disease abroad. There is so far no documented evidence of spread within communities.But India is conducting only about 100 tests per day, despite having the capacity for as many as 6,000, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research, India’s top medical research body, and concerns of so-far undetected communal spread are growing.”Given the pattern of disease in other places, and given our low level of testing, then I do think that community transmission is happening, ” said Dr. Gagandeep Kang, the director of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute.In India, where more than 400 million people live in crowded cities, including many without regular access to clean water, local transmission is all but inevitable, experts say.  “Community spread is very likely. But the only way to know for sure is through more expansive testing,” said Dr. Anant Bhan, a global health researcher in Bhopal, India.ICMR chief Balaram Bharghava has said that India has a month-long window of opportunity to try to stop the virus in its tracks, judging from its path in other countries.  If India does determine the disease is spreading communally, it could prove difficult to contain.  The virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, for most people, but severe illness is more likely in the elderly and people with existing health problems.  India has a lower proportion of elderly than other countries, but its health care facilities are limited and already can’t accommodate the large number of patients with other diseases.  “This along with our high population density can be our great challenge,” said public health researcher Oommen Kurian.India has been reluctant to expand testing, not wanting to trigger panic and overwhelm hospitals, but also because of the cost: While the tests are free for patients, each one costs the government about 5,000 rupees ($67).In an already stretched and underfunded public health care system, money spent on the coronavirus leaves less for other public health problems.The coronavirus may also be spreading in India because health officials have struggled to maintain quarantines, with people fleeing from isolation wards, complaining of filthy conditions.  In the central state of Maharashtra, five people, one of whom had tested negative and the rest who were awaiting test results, walked out of an isolation ward last Saturday.India has implemented a 19th century epidemic law that empowers public officials to enforce more rigorous containment measures and impose penalties and punishments for escapes.Lav Agarwal, a health ministry official, rued that authorities “often don’t get enough support from people.”Similarly, in neighboring Sri Lanka, the government has ordered about 170 passengers who evaded airport screening after returning from several affected countries to report to police or face financial penalties and possible imprisonment.Aditya Bhatnagar, an Indian university student who was studying in Spain, described unsanitary conditions at an isolation ward where he and 50 others passengers on a Barcelona flight have been kept since landing in New Delhi on Monday.Bhatnagar said the rooms, shared by around eight people each, lacked basic hygiene features such as clean bed sheets and bathrooms. He said the group, awaiting their COVID-19 test results, was not provided with masks or sanitizer.“I don’t think these measures would be enough to contain the pandemic,” Bhatnagar said, adding that some passengers had opted to move from the wards and into private hotels, paying 4,000 rupees ($55) a night to self-isolate for at least 14 days.
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Iran’s death toll from the new coronavirus has increased to 988, with 135 new deaths in the past 24 hours, a Health Ministry spokesman told state TV on Tuesday.   “The death toll is 988 … with 1,178 new infected people in the past 24 hours, now the total number of infected cases is 16,169 across the country,” said Kianush Jahanpur, adding that 5,389 people infected with the virus have recovered.    
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The European Union’s external borders will be closed to non-essential travel  for 30 days as of Tuesday to fight the spread of the coronavirus, while France is following Italy and Spain in imposing a nationwide lockdown for at least 15 days.In an address to the nation Monday night, President Emmanuel Macron announced France was at war against COVID-19. He announced new measures both within France and across the EU to contain its spread.   Macron said as of midday Tuesday, the EU and Europe’s visa-free Schengen zone borders would be shut for 30 days for all but essential travel. Earlier in the day, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said she had made the recommendation to the 27-member bloc.  Macron also announced a minimum 15-day lockdown across France and its territories. People must drastically limit their movement outside their homes to essential work, errands and health services also as of Tuesday midday. Getting together with friends and non-household family members is forbidden, and violators risk punishment.  The new restrictions come amid surging numbers of coronavirus cases here — and as some hospitals increasingly struggle to cope with an overload of sick patients, especially in the eastern part of the country.   Macron also said the second round of local elections would be postponed, along with a series of unpopular reforms his government has pushed through in recent months. He announced measures to support businesses hard hit by the coronavirus, including more than $335 billion in tax and other relief.
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Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and University Hospitals have added a second location for drive-through COVID-19 testing for patients with a doctor’s order. Patients can stay in their cars while samples are taken with nasal and throat swabs.  People with symptoms are instructed to start with an online visit to  Cleveland Clinic’s Express Care Online or call their primary care physician. The Cleveland Clinic says it has tested more than 600 people on Monday. The Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals opened their first testing location on Saturday. So far they have tested 800 patients, with 26 testing positive who are then treated at the clinic.  Brian Rubin, head of the clinic’s pathology medicine, said the group is following CDC’s  (Centers for Disease Control) guidelines.  Rubin told Reuters news agency that local testing is very important because the specimens don’t need to be transported and the results can be obtained rapidly. But he added that the role of big laboratories is also important because they can test a large number of people. Rubin warns the public this is not a short-term health problem.  “If I had to guess right now, I would say we’re in for at least a three month haul to deal with this virus before we really understand it and are able to cope with it in a more reasonable way,” he said. 
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